cyra wrote:
funny how everybody pulls out their Austrian-Habsburgian great grandfathers to underly their "german-ness"
No, cyra, I don't claim any "german-ness". I am trying to establish if our German colleagues have any interest in fomer Habsburgians... very different...

Actually Habsburg isn't the best credential for a Berliner meetup as Berlin was never part of the Austrio-Hungarian empire. It was part of the Holy Roman Empire (which by the way was neither holy, nor Roman nor an empire ) as the capital of Prussia before the German unification. So a Habsburg connection would only be relevant if one subscribes to some, eh, outdated ein volk.. ideas

carstenw wrote:
Well, let's try to settle on the afternoon of Aug. 6th this time, and then start discussions about when we should meet again. How does mid-to-late September sound to everyone? We can also make it later... Christmas is of course also a possibility, but I would think there would be enough time to meet in between, and anyway, the Weinachtsmärkte are not necessarily great photo ops, although Glühwein could make up for that

How about east Prussian ancestry?

As for the Weinachtsmärkte, there's always Bayern though I agree they're not necessarily as interesting as the postcards might imply..

Earliest for me would probably be later in November through December...

I have just returned to Berlin after staying abroad for 10 years (5 years Mumbai, India / 5 years Kanton, China). I might stay in berlin for 2 - 3 years. I am very interested to join.

Only problem: I am in the mids of moving. My furniture have arrived in Bremerhaven today. I expect the moving company to call me at any time to fix a date for the delivery of the furniture to my residence in Berlin. It all depends when the stuff arrives here. I am afraid, that I will be so much occupied, that I can't afford to attend.

Such a meeting would be very interessting! Good idea!
And I am very pleased to see the interest of members of different nationality!

But I think I couldn´t join this time :-/

For German Weihnachtsmarkt I would suggest Cologne with the Weihnachtmarkt near the Kölner Dom (I know some others there too). But I was never on one in Munic, probably they have more snow, what could be great.

denoir wrote:
Actually Habsburg isn't the best credential for a Berliner meetup as Berlin was never part of the Austrio-Hungarian empire. It was part of the Holy Roman Empire (which by the way was neither holy, nor Roman nor an empire ) as the capital of Prussia before the German unification. So a Habsburg connection would only be relevant if one subscribes to some, eh, outdated ein volk.. ideas

I quite like the idea of inhaling Germany as (smallish) part of an extended Austrian-Hungarian empire.
I'd strongly prefer a Kaiser to that F-word guy though. Unfortunately the last crown prince of the Habsburgs (Otto) just passed away. But I am sure we can find a substitute.

Phillipe, don't you worry, if everything else fails, you can still apply as a regular EU-member

Guys, all that is presently available is a flight coming in at 12:00, and a return departing at 18:35, both from Tegel. Let me know at what time that gets me to the meeting place, and when I would need to leave. Thanks.

Hmm, factoring in travel from the airport (which is not far from downtown), this does not leave too much time for more than a coffee and a quick stroll.

In order to buy some time, I would suggest that we meet somewhere easily reachable from the airport, if not too close (due to the uninteresting nature of that part of the city). There are some nice cafes not too far from Bahnhof Zoo, and Tiergarten and the Zoo are within a short walk from this area too. There is a really nice cafe right opposite Meister Camera, Berlin's great Leica dealer, which might be interesting for some. I believe they even have a Leica S2 in stock, if that is interesting to some This is about a 15 minute stroll from Bahnhof Zoo, on Fasanenstraße.

There is the X9 bus which drives directly to Bahnhof Zoo in 15 minutes or so. I could imagine that after arriving at the airport, you could meet us within about 45 minutes, but it might also take 1 hour, depending on the airport, traffic, etc. The same time would be needed in reverse, possibly padded a bit for safety, and adding the standard check-in buffer. That would leave you with maybe 3 1/2 hours of free time. Are you sure this is worth it? There is no possibility to stay overnight? There is a new Motel One close to Bahnhof Zoo which provides spartan, but nice (Ikea-ish) and affordable rooms.

The alternative we had discussed would be to meet around Mitte somewhere, which is reachable via Alexanderplatz and the TXL bus, but this takes longer (up to 20 minutes wait, 40 minutes drive, plus plus plus), and I would be surprised if you would have enough time for anything satisfying with this option.

The TXL also drives past Hauptbahnhof, which is close to Tiergarten, but I don't know of any nice cafes there where we can meet each other. There are some standard cafes in the Bahnhof if expectations are not too high.

Perhaps Ulff, Vincent or Morpheus have other ideas which make sense in this context?

Btw, Boris sends greetings, he will be in Seattle and cannot come. Bernhard is in Bayern, and also cannot come.

Buses are very good in Berlin, and traffic is much lighter than in Paris (and Berlin is much smaller), so I don't think there would be a big difference. The X9 takes 15 minutes to get to Bahnhof Zoo, according to the BVG website. The taxi would not be that expensive, and a bit more flexible about where it drops you off, so you could also do that, of course. It might cost 20-30 Euro or something like that.